03/09/2026
Just up the road!
Hidden away near Wolsingham is Harperley POW Camp, and from above you really appreciate just how much of it still survives.
Built in 1942-43, it first housed Italian prisoners captured in North Africa, before 716 German POWs arrived in 1944. They were considered low security risk and many worked on farms across County Durham. The camp eventually grew into its own little community, with classrooms, an orchestra, newspaper, theatre and even painted murals created by the prisoners themselves.
Remarkably, around 85% of the original buildings survive, making Harperley one of the best preserved Second World War POW camps in England. From this angle it almost looks like an abandoned village, but every one of those huts has a story attached to it.